Building Resilient Health Systems for a Safer World
Strong public health systems not only enable families and communities to thrive, but also help to ensure stable economies and countries. Jhpiego works with governments and other stakeholders to strengthen health systems and the policies and legislation that support them, so that countries can prevent, detect and respond to public health threats—now and in the future.
Antimicrobial-resistance (AMR) makes infections harder to treat and increases the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. Jhpiego supports the CDC and partners in Argentina, Brazil and Chile in their efforts to understand and combat the threat that AMR poses to global health security.
Read more about Jhpiego’s work in this area.
Saving Newborn Lives in Brazil
Pediatrician Flávio Melo leads a team of health investigators in Paraiba, Brazil, to review and address hospital practices that may cause infections, especially among premature babies. Through the Targeted Assessment for Prevention project, which is part of the five-year Enhancing Global Health Security program, health workers—including NICU nurses—are learning to identify gaps in their infection prevention and control policies and practices and use this knowledge to save lives.
My dream at the end of the project is to see professionals, like the nurses, understanding their central role in saving the lives of these babies that they take care of, because they are the most essential.
—Dr. Flávio Melo
Prevent, Detect and Respond
When COVID-19 highlighted shortcomings in countries’ preparedness to deal with outbreaks of infectious disease, Jhpiego programs quickly pivoted to fill gaps. But Jhpiego was partnering with countries to strengthen health systems long before the pandemic took hold. We work with governments, health facilities and within communities to strengthen infection prevention and control; prepare health care providers to address health issues as they arise; provide critical health and safety equipment; and support governments and the private sector to distribute lifesaving immunizations.
Through the Enhancing Global Health Security: Expanding Efforts and Strategies to Protect and Improve Public Health Globally project, Jhpiego is supporting countries to build health systems that will protect and improve the health of their people, including prevention, early detection and rapid and effective response to public health threats. In the DRC, the Enhancing Global Health Security project is assisting in the establishment of a National Public Health Institute that will integrate core public health functions including surveillance, public health emergency management, workforce development and the national laboratory system.
The ability of laboratories to test specimens and return results quickly and accurately is critical to enabling countries to rapidly identify and respond to infectious disease outbreaks and other health emergencies. To build and strengthen national laboratory systems, Jhpiego is assisting with supplies, equipment, specimen transport and biosafety/biosecurity training in Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mali and Pakistan as well as regionally in West Africa.
Jhpiego is working with governments in several countries in Africa and Asia, as well as regionally in South America and West Africa, to develop surveillance systems that foster real-time use of information. For example, in Nigeria, teams are using SORMAS and EIOS systems to identify and track health threats. We’re also supporting governments to develop border health plans for air, sea and land points of entry to enable rapid identification of and response to public health threats.
Jhpiego is supporting governments to operationalize emergency operations centers that use advanced technologies in Burkina Faso, Liberia and Pakistan, among other countries. We’re supporting ongoing efforts in infection prevention and control and water, sanitation and hygiene as well as the development and training of rapid response teams and risk communications and community engagement efforts. These emergency response approaches will enable countries and communities to be prepared for future health threats.
To ensure families continue to receive the care and treatment they need, we work with governments and local partners to improve essential health services in areas such as malaria; HIV; maternal, newborn and child health; and family planning and reproductive health. We develop operational guidance that synthesizes global recommendations, current best evidence and critical resources—from how to optimize service delivery to how to adapt facilities to keep both patients and health workers safe, including correct use of personal protective equipment.
Our Experts
Border health is a critical yet neglected area in global health security. In this Q&A, Jhpiego’s Dr. Ibrahim Seriki discusses the roles surveillance, communication and collaboration play in border health and how Jhpiego is supporting the Government of Sierra Leone to develop a health plan for international borders: Every Outbreak a Lesson.
Learn about Jhpiego’s work to help countries strengthen their infectious disease surveillance, emergency preparedness and laboratory systems to predict, prevent, detect and respond to health threats in this Q&A with Dr. Virgile Kikaya, director of Jhpiego’s office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: We Are All in This Together.
Learn more about Jhpiego’s work in infectious disease surveillance and health systems strengthening, which set the stage for our fight against COVID-19 in this Q&A with Jhpiego’s Stacie Stender: Global Health Security: Prevent, Detect, Respond.
Help Us Ensure That Countries Can Prevent, Detect and Respond to Public Health Threats
No one is safe unless we all are safe. Help us ensure that all countries have responsive, resilient health systems that protect women and families from public health threats so they can survive and thrive.
